MSc in Latin American Studies
About the course
This is a nine-month course which spans three academic terms and is intended to provide an interdisciplinary understanding of the main developments in Latin America from c. 1900 to the present.
While the course emphasises the specific features of individual countries, there is also broad comparative coverage of major trends such as authoritarianism and democracy, the economic cycle, the effect of international factors, the evolution of the Left and Right, revolutionary movements and the effects of neo-liberal economic models.
You will choose two disciplinary papers from the following:
- Latin America since Independence
- Introduction to the Latin American Economies
- Environmental Geography of Latin America
- The International Relations of Latin America
- The Politics of Democracy in Latin America.
In addition, you will choose either one option paper or a further disciplinary paper. As a guide, the following option papers are currently available but may vary from year to year:
- Andean Politics
- The Politics of Brazil.
- Roman Catholicism in Latin America
These topics are addressed through taught classes for a number of academic disciplines (including history, politics, sociology, international relations and economics), individual preparation for a range of assessments, and a lively programme of seminars and conferences with visiting speakers.
The Latin American Centre’s (LAC) main seminar room serves to host the regular Latin American seminar, a weekly event where Oxford- based and visiting academics present and discuss the results of their most recent research activities on a wide range of topics. In addition, the seminar room serves to host the Latin American History seminar.
A typical week during term time will involve around 40 hours of study, including two to six hours of scheduled contact hours, two hours for the weekly seminar and at least thirty hours of independent work. During peak times around deadlines, the amount of work could be higher depending on your own study habits.
Attendance
The course is full-time and requires attendance in Oxford. Full-time students are subject to the University's Residence requirements.
Resources to support your study
As a graduate student, you will have access to the University's wide range of world-class resources including libraries, museums, galleries, digital resources and IT services.
The Bodleian Libraries is the largest library system in the UK. It includes the main Bodleian Library and libraries across Oxford, including major research libraries and faculty, department and institute libraries. Together, the Libraries hold more than 13 million printed items, provide access to e-journals, and contain outstanding special collections including rare books and manuscripts, classical papyri, maps, music, art and printed ephemera.
The University's IT Services is available to all students to support with core university IT systems and tools, as well as many other services and facilities. IT Services also offers a range of IT learning courses for students, to support with learning and research.
The Latin American Centre houses an important collection of books, academic journals, periodicals and some other significant documents relevant for the study of the region. It is a specialist loan collection, whose primary role is to support graduate students taking the master’s courses in Latin American Studies, although the library welcomes all current resident members of the University who are interested in the subject area.
The library has three reading rooms, all with Wi-Fi, including a seminar room and workspace. It subscribes to a number of journals, including popular titles like the Latin American Research Review, the Journal of Latin American Studies and the Hispanic American Historical Review.
Events in the Latin American Centre are often accompanied by social receptions, which will offer you opportunities to mix socially with your fellow students, staff and visitors.
Spanish and Portuguese classes at the Language Centre
If you are a non-native speaker of Spanish or Portuguese and feel that you could benefit from additional classes, you may wish to register for one of the courses offered by the University Language Centre. As a LAC student you are eligible to make a ‘priority application’ to attend a Spanish or Portuguese course.
Supervision
The allocation of graduate supervision for this course is the responsibility of the Oxford School of Global and Area Studies and it is not always possible to accommodate the preferences of incoming graduate students to work with a particular member of staff. Under exceptional circumstances a supervisor may be found outside the Oxford School of Global and Area Studies.
Assessment
Assessments for the disciplinary and option papers will be by a combination of written exam papers and/or submitted essays.
In addition you will be required to submit a dissertation. The preparation of this dissertation will allow you to develop a critical focus by examining a particular topic in depth.
Graduate destinations
Latin American Centre alumni work in a wide range of careers, both within and outside of Latin America, in the public and private sectors.
Changes to this course and your supervision
The University will seek to deliver this course in accordance with the description set out in this course page. However, there may be situations in which it is desirable or necessary for the University to make changes in course provision, either before or after registration. The safety of students, staff and visitors is paramount and major changes to delivery or services may have to be made if a pandemic, epidemic or local health emergency occurs. In addition, in certain circumstances, for example due to visa difficulties or because the health needs of students cannot be met, it may be necessary to make adjustments to course requirements for international study.
Where possible your academic supervisor will not change for the duration of your course. However, it may be necessary to assign a new academic supervisor during the course of study or before registration for reasons which might include illness, sabbatical leave, parental leave or change in employment.
For further information please see our page on changes to courses and the provisions of the student contract regarding changes to courses.
Entry requirements for entry in 2025-26
Proven and potential academic excellence
The requirements described below are specific to this course and apply only in the year of entry that is shown. You can use our interactive tool to help you evaluate whether your application is likely to be competitive.
Please be aware that any studentships that are linked to this course may have different or additional requirements and you should read any studentship information carefully before applying.
Degree-level qualifications
As a minimum, applicants should hold or be predicted to achieve the following UK qualifications or their equivalent:
- a first-class or strong upper second-class undergraduate degree with honours in any discipline.
For applicants with a bachelor's degree from the USA, the minimum overall GPA that is normally required to meet the undergraduate-level requirement is 3.5 out of 4.0.
If your degree is not from the UK or another country specified above, visit our International Qualifications page for guidance on the qualifications and grades that would usually be considered to meet the University’s minimum entry requirements.
GRE General Test scores
No Graduate Record Examination (GRE) or GMAT scores are sought.
Other qualifications, evidence of excellence and relevant experience
- The Latin American Centre requires you to have a working knowledge of Spanish or Portuguese as appropriate to your individual area(s) of research. Please refer to your language skills in your statement of purpose.
- Publications are not required.
English language proficiency
This course requires proficiency in English at the University's higher level. If your first language is not English, you may need to provide evidence that you meet this requirement. The minimum scores required to meet the University's higher level are detailed in the table below.
| Test | Minimum overall score | Minimum score per component |
|---|---|---|
| IELTS Academic (Institution code: 0713) | 7.5 | 7.0 |
TOEFL iBT, including the 'Home Edition' (Institution code: 0490) | 110 | Listening: 22 Reading: 24 Speaking: 25 Writing: 24 |
| C1 Advanced* | 191 | 185 |
| C2 Proficiency† | 191 | 185 |
*Previously known as the Cambridge Certificate of Advanced English or Cambridge English: Advanced (CAE)
†Previously known as the Cambridge Certificate of Proficiency in English or Cambridge English: Proficiency (CPE)
Your test must have been taken no more than two years before the start date of your course. Our Application Guide provides further information about the English language test requirement.
Declaring extenuating circumstances
If your ability to meet the entry requirements has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic (eg you were awarded an unclassified/ungraded degree) or any other exceptional personal circumstance (eg other illness or bereavement), please refer to the guidance on extenuating circumstances in the Application Guide for information about how to declare this so that your application can be considered appropriately.
References
You will need to register three referees who can give an informed view of your academic ability and suitability for the course. The How to apply section of this page provides details of the types of reference that are required in support of your application for this course and how these will be assessed.
Supporting documents
You will be required to supply supporting documents with your application. The How to apply section of this page provides details of the supporting documents that are required as part of your application for this course and how these will be assessed.
Performance at interview
Interviews are not normally held as part of the admissions process.
Offer conditions for successful applications
If you receive an offer of a place at Oxford, your offer will outline any conditions that you need to satisfy and any actions you need to take, together with any associated deadlines. These may include academic conditions, such as achieving a specific final grade in your current degree course. These conditions will usually depend on your individual academic circumstances and may vary between applicants. Our 'After you apply' pages provide more information about offers and conditions.
In addition to any academic conditions which are set, you will also be required to meet the following requirements:
Financial Declaration
If you are offered a place, you will be required to complete a Financial Declaration in order to meet your financial condition of admission.
Disclosure of criminal convictions
In accordance with the University’s obligations towards students and staff, we will ask you to declare any relevant, unspent criminal convictions before you can take up a place at Oxford.
Other factors governing whether places can be offered
The following factors will also govern whether candidates can be offered places:
- the ability of the University to provide the appropriate supervision for your studies, as outlined under the 'Supervision' heading in the About section of this page;
- the ability of the University to provide appropriate support for your studies (eg through the provision of facilities, resources, teaching and/or research opportunities); and
- minimum and maximum limits to the numbers of students who may be admitted to the University's taught and research programmes.
Oxford School of Global and Area Studies
Join the Oxford School of Global and Area Studies (OSGA) as a graduate student and become part of a community devoted to innovative research and graduate teaching using a range of academic disciplines which seek to understand the complexity and the interrelatedness of societies and regions.
The work in the school takes into account both insights provided by the separate social science disciplines of anthropology, economics, politics, international relations, history and sociology, and the contextualisation provided by in-depth knowledge of specific regions and countries.
If you are fascinated by a particular area and wish to explore it further and understand it and its people more, then the school is likely to have the graduate course for you. OGSA admits about 150 graduate students each year, across a range of area-based master's courses, the multidisciplinary and comparative MPhil in Global and Area Studies, and the doctoral programme in area studies.
You will find library materials, seminar series, workshops and lectures in abundance in Oxford. Studying a particular region here means mixing with a group of leading academics in their fields and becoming a part of the school's vibrant research community. Join the Oxford School of Global and Area Studies for an inspiring graduate experience.
Funding
For entry in the 2025-26 academic year, the collegiate University expects to offer over 1,000 full or partial graduate scholarships across a wide range of graduate courses.
If you apply by the January deadline shown on this page and receive a course offer, your application will then be considered for Oxford scholarships. For the majority of Oxford scholarships, your application will automatically be assessed against the eligibility criteria, without needing to make a separate application. There are further Oxford scholarships available which have additional eligibility criteria and where you are required to submit a separate application. Most scholarships are awarded on the basis of academic merit and/or potential.
To ensure that you are considered for Oxford scholarships that require a separate application, for which you may be eligible, use our fees, funding and scholarship search tool to identify these opportunities and find out how to apply. Alongside Oxford scholarships, you should also consider other opportunities for which you may be eligible including a range of external funding, loan schemes for postgraduate study and any other scholarships which may also still be available after the January deadline as listed on our fees, funding and scholarship search tool.
Details of college-specific funding opportunities can also be found on individual college websites:
Please refer to the College preference section of this page to identify which of the colleges listed above accept students for this course.
For the majority of college scholarships, it doesn’t matter which college, if any, you state a preference for in your application. If another college is able to offer you a scholarship, your application can be moved to that college if you accept the scholarship. Some college scholarships may require you to state a preference for that college when you apply, so check the eligibility requirements carefully.
Further information about funding opportunities for this course can be found on the school's website.
Costs
Annual fees for entry in 2025-26
Fee status | Annual Course fees |
| Home | £20,230 |
| Overseas | £36,250 |
Information about course fees
Course fees are payable each year, for the duration of your fee liability (your fee liability is the length of time for which you are required to pay course fees). For courses lasting longer than one year, please be aware that fees will usually increase annually. For details, please see our guidance on changes to fees and charges.
Course fees cover your teaching as well as other academic services and facilities provided to support your studies. Unless specified in the additional information section below, course fees do not cover your accommodation, residential costs or other living costs. They also don’t cover any additional costs and charges that are outlined in the additional information below.
Where can I find further information about fees?
The Fees and Funding section of this website provides further information about course fees, including information about fee status and eligibility and your length of fee liability.
Additional information
There are no compulsory elements of this course that entail additional costs beyond fees and living costs. However, please note that, depending on your choice of research topic and the research required to complete it, you may incur additional expenses, such as travel expenses, research expenses, and field trips. You will need to meet these additional costs, although you may be able to apply for small grants from your department and/or college to help you cover some of these expenses. Standard travel insurance can be provided by the University, however, students may be required to pay any additional insurance premiums associated with travel to areas with an increased level of risk and/or for travel of more than 12 months’ duration, and should factor this into their planning for fieldwork.
Living costs
In addition to your course fees and any additional course-specific costs, you will need to ensure that you have adequate funds to support your living costs for the duration of your course.
Living costs for full-time study
For the 2025-26 academic year, the range of likely living costs for a single, full-time student is between £1,425 and £2,035 for each month spent in Oxford. We provide the cost per month so you can multiply up by the number of months you expect to live in Oxford. Depending on your circumstances, you may also need to budget for the costs of a student visa and immigration health surcharge and/or living costs for family members or other dependants that you plan to bring with you to Oxford (assuming that dependant visa eligibility criteria are met).
Further information about living costs
The current economic climate and high national rate of inflation make it very hard to estimate potential changes to the cost of living over the next few years. For study in Oxford beyond the 2025-26 academic year, it is suggested that you budget for potential increases in living expenses of around 4% each year – although this rate may vary depending on the national economic situation. For further information, please consult our more detailed information about living costs, which includes a breakdown of likely living costs in Oxford for items such as food, accommodation and study costs.
College preference
Students enrolled on this course will belong to both a department/faculty and a college. Please note that ‘college’ and ‘colleges’ refers to all 43 of the University’s colleges, including those designated as societies and permanent private halls (PPHs).
If you apply for a place on this course you will have the option to express a preference for one of the colleges listed below, or you can ask us to find a college for you. Before deciding, we suggest that you read our brief introduction to the college system at Oxford and our advice about expressing a college preference.
If you are a current Oxford student and you would like to remain at your current Oxford college, you should check whether it is listed below. If it is, you should indicate this preference when you apply. If not, you should contact your college office to ask whether they would be willing to make an exception. Further information about staying at your current college can be found in our Application Guide.
The following colleges accept students on the MSc in Latin American Studies:
Before you apply
Our guide to getting started provides general advice on how to prepare for and start your application. You can use our interactive tool to help you evaluate whether your application is likely to be competitive.
If it is important for you to have your application considered under a particular deadline – eg under the January deadline in order to be considered for Oxford scholarships – we recommend that you aim to complete and submit your application at least two weeks in advance. Check the deadlines on this page and the information about deadlines and when to apply in our Application Guide.
Application fee waivers
An application fee of £75 is payable for each application to this course. Application fee waivers are available for the following applicants who meet the eligibility criteria:
- applicants from low-income countries;
- refugees and displaced persons;
- UK applicants from low-income backgrounds; and
- applicants who applied for our Graduate Access Programmes in the past two years and met the eligibility criteria.
You are encouraged to check whether you're eligible for an application fee waiver before you apply.
Do I need to contact anyone before I apply?
You are encouraged to visit the relevant departmental webpages to read any further information about your chosen course. You may find it useful to make contact with an academic member of staff before you apply.
Completing your application
You should refer to the information below when completing the application form, paying attention to the specific requirements for the supporting documents.
For this course, the application form will include questions that collect information that would usually be included in a CV/résumé. You should not upload a separate document. If a separate CV/résumé is uploaded, it will be removed from your application.
If any document does not meet the specification, including the stipulated word count, your application may be considered incomplete and not assessed by the academic department. Expand each section to show further details.
Referees:
Three overall, all of which must be academic
Whilst you must register three referees, the department may start the assessment of your application if two of the three references are submitted by the course deadline and your application is otherwise complete. Please note that you may still be required to ensure your third referee supplies a reference for consideration.
Your references will support your academic ability and suitability for the course. All references should be academic.
Official transcript(s)
Your transcripts should give detailed information of the individual grades received in your university-level qualifications to date. You should only upload official documents issued by your institution and any transcript not in English should be accompanied by a certified translation.
More information about the transcript requirement is available in the Application Guide.
Statement of purpose:
A minimum of 500 words up to a maximum of 1,000 words
The statement of purpose is an important document for assessing your application. It is your opportunity to explain why you are applying to the Latin American Centre specifically and what you hope to achieve during the course.
You should consider the following points:
- what relevant academic, research, or practical experience do you have?
- why are you applying to this particular programme of study?
- what areas of Latin American studies are you interested in?
- have you looked through the course information and staff profiles on this website?
- do you have any future career plans that would be informed by study at the Latin American Centre?
The statement should all be in your own English, not another language.
If possible, please ensure that the word count is clearly displayed on the document.
It will be normal for your ideas subsequently to change in some ways as you investigate the evidence and develop your project. You should nevertheless make the best effort you can to demonstrate the extent of your research question, sources and method at this moment.
This will be assessed for:
- your reasons for applying
- evidence of motivation for and understanding of the proposed area of study
- commitment to the subject, beyond the requirements of the degree course
- capacity for sustained and intense work
- reasoning ability.
Written work:
Two essays of a maximum of 2,000 words each
You are required to submit academic written work in your own English (i.e. not professionally translated). The work should all be in English, not another language.
It is helpful, but not essential, if the work is in the field of Latin American studies that you hope to pursue.
If possible, please ensure that the word count is clearly displayed on the document.
This will be assessed for:
- analytic and general scholarly ability
- comprehensive understanding of the subject area
- understanding of problems in the area
- ability to construct and defend an argument
- powers of analysis
- powers of expression.
Start or continue your application
You can start or return to an application using the relevant link below. As you complete the form, please refer to the requirements above and consult our Application Guide for advice.
After you've submitted your application
Your application (including the supporting documents outlined above) will be assessed against the entry requirements detailed on this course page. Whether or not you have secured funding will not be taken into consideration when your application is assessed. You can find out more about our shortlisting and selection process in our detailed guide to what happens next.
Find out how to manage your application after submission, using our Applicant Self-Service tool.